Roasted red pepper soup topped with a swirl of cream and fresh chives. (Sifu Renka/Creative Commons license)
It's tough to improve on the classic goodness of homemade tomato soup, but roasted red pepper soup just may give the old standby a serious run for its money. The rich, red broth is creamy --even without the addition of cream-- and has the savory kick of smoky, just-roasted red peppers. With just a few ingredients, it may become your new go-to soup for cold-weather comfort.
Roasted red pepper soup is also a good choice during winter because tomatoes are out of season --real, ripe, honest-to-goodness summertime tomatoes, anyway. If you live in Tennessee, you know you can't settle for a not-quite-red hothouse tomato when you know whatGrainger County tomatoes taste like.
As for the health benefits, red bell peppers aren't just low in calories and fat, they contain a surprising amount of Vitamin C, which everyone can use more of in the cold and flu season. Just one medium-sized red pepper has 253% of the recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C --far more than you even need.
For the sake of comparison, an average orange has less than half the Vitamin C of a pepper. But, let's ditch the health talk and skip ahead to the good part: making and eating the soup. Plan a batch of roasted red pepper soup as a simple supper with salad alone, or as a zesty starter for a light Italian dinner.
You can roast your red peppers under the broiler yourself until they are nice and charred, or roast them in the flame of your gas stove with tongs if you are patient (the flavor makes it worthwhile). You can even use jarred red peppers in a pinch, but you'll miss some of the smoky flavor that a just-roasted red pepper imparts to the soup.
Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 red bell peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 Tbsp flour
- Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Directions: Roughly chop the roasted red peppers and set aside. In a large saucepan, place the onion, garlic and two cups of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the stock begins to reduce. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the onions and garlic begin to soften. Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and slowly stir in the rest of the vegetable stock.
Add the roasted red peppers and return to a boil. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow soup to cool slightly. Transfer roasted red pepper soup to a food processor or use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add salt and pepper if desired and return to the saucepan to reheat until hot enough to serve. Serves four.
Possible Garnishes for Roasted Red Pepper Soup:
- Additional chopped red pepper
- Chopped fresh basil
- Dollop of creme fraiche
- Greek yogurt
- Snipped chives
- Toasted almond slices
Resources for Fresh Produce in Knoxville, Tennesse:
- Farm Fresh Produce (Sutherland Ave.)
- Garden Fresh Market (Chapman Hwy)
- Earth Fare (Bearden and Turkey Creek)
- Fresh Market (Bearden and Farragut)
- Three Rivers Market (North Knoxville)
Get healthy recipes, handy tips, and diet strategies in your email box by subscribing (look for the button at the top of this page). ekellywrites@gmail.com
Comments
Sounds delicious!
This sounds stunning. I am making this right away!
Looks pretty and sounds yummy!
Lately I'm not a huge fan of soup but this sounds delicious.
Hurray for vegetables! You know you can get a surprising variety of frozen vegetables these days, which really helps if you don't have time to cut up fresh ones.
I really want to make this soup. I was wondering at first what kind of red pepper, because to me it can be three things, red bellpepper, dried red pepper, or any number of red chile's from jalapenos to anchos. I wonder if you could throw in a few hot peppers, or maybe just one. Hmmm.
Going to simmer some asparagus in green tea in a while, see how it turns out. Vegetables rule.
This sounds wonderful. Tweeting.
This is one of my all-time favorite things to make, but I like to make it in late summer when peppers are in season. Jarred roasted peppers are way too expensive! Canned tomatoes are good all year round, though, and my most recent articles makes a heckuva good soup out of them... that way people have options.
Hadn't heard of this before but sounds like a great way to "spice" things up in the kitchen.
Hi Liz,
Great recipe...so simple yet so yummy!
Cheers!
Beth
this sounds absolutely delicous
I made red pepper soup once, but it was a pale color. Yours has so much more visual appeal. I'll try it this summer when harvesting the garden.
I love how roasting peppers changes their flavor!
I for sure am going to try this recipe thank you so much.
Roasted red pepper soup recipe: bold color, bolder flavor
Sounds like a very tastful bowl of soup.
Darrell
It sounds so good, especially on a cold day like today.
Indianapolis Healthy Living Examiner
Sims Examiner
This looks so delicious. I absolutely love red peppers. I am going to make this very soon while it is still cold outside.
What a great idea! I will plan to make this next week. Thanks for sharing! :o)
I just made it, it was delicious! The only thing that bothers me is that it definately doesn't serve four (or maybe I did something wrong). I halfed the recipe and it was hardly enough for me alone. Just wanted to give you the heads up so that other readers know it too :)
Hi Nikki. I'm always glad to hear that people made and enjoyed my recipes. This recipe should make 4 1-cup servings. Some might prefer a larger bowl of soup. If it seemed more sparse than that, it could be a variation in the size of peppers. Also, be careful not to lift the lid during cooking, or liquid will evaporate.
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